At 04:10 24/11/98 -0400, Martine Hubaut wrote:

>Does anybody out there have any information on dairy-free products, milk
>substitutes (soy formula is no good because of her allergy and rice drinks
>contain only sugars and hardly any proteins, vitamins or minerals), which I
>can find in Europe and more precisely - am I pushing my luck? - in Belgium,
>where I live? I am also looking for interesting recipes with these, etc.

Hi Martine,

I also have a milk allergic son, he will be 3 in February. We live in Spain,
but unfortunately so far I have also found that I have the same problem with
foods, etc. that you have. Most things I have discovered reading labels
myself every time I want to try a new food. I find that it's specially hard
with processed meats like saussages to find milk-free alternatives, so
we just pass and try to have everything as natural as possible. This doesn't
need to mean a long time in the kitchen - we eat lots of salads, vegetables,
grilled meat or fish, and legumes like beans, chickpeas, etc. that you can
cook in big pots and freeze in small portions. It's actually much easier to
prepare than you can think as all you have to do is throw all the ingredients
in a quick pot and let it cook, then freeze it.

Many Kellogs cereals are milk free, and that's what Nikolas has for breakfast,
dry or with orange juice. He is still taking a diary-soy free formula, milk
based, from MILUPA (PREGOMIN). I am sure you can find it there also. It's
very expensive but here it's covered by the Social Security in case of a
severe allergy to soy and milk. It's difficult to get them to drink it as
it tastes awful, let alone cook with it! Nikolas always has it mixed with
cereal, like the baby cereal kind. I've also used rice milk but as you say
it's not very nutritious. For cooking purposes I prefer oat milk, which is
richer, or almond milk (the best if you can find it, very natural and
healthy and tastes great). I buy big almond paste jars (almonds, water and
sugar) and dilute it in water, to mix with cereal or to cook bechamel dishes.
(which by the way Nikolas doesn't really like, maybe because he has not been
used to it and therefore he doesn't miss it)

I believe you use a lot of cream, butter etc. in cooking there? For us that's
not a problem really as we cook everything with olive oil. It's a good
substitute
for butter, so is corn margarine if you can find it (100% vegetal, with no
milk added)

Please feel free to  e-mail me directly if you have more questions, and good
luck! I also work full time and have two small children, so I know how hard
it can get.

Angela